The present invention relates to a device for preparing food products from cooked and expanded cereals.
Devices for the cooking of cereal grains in the shape of a small cake are well known in the art. Among the grains which have been proposed for forming such cakes are corn, millet, rice, rye, wheat, oats, buckwheat, barley, and sorghum. However, despite the possibility of utilizing many such grains, it is primarily rice which has received the largest commercial acceptance. Among the reasons for this commercial acceptance is the fact that rice is one of the easier cereals to form into a self-supporting cake without the use of additives.
Methods and apparati capable of forming such rice cakes are well known in the art and may include an arrangement where a predetermined amount of rice is fed to a mold having a cavity formed therein. A piston applies a pressure to the rice to break the same and under pressure, the rice is heated for a certain period of time. The piston is then partially withdrawn to substantially release the pressure while the rice is contained within the cavity. As the pressure is released, the rice tends to expand to fill the cavity and while in this state, the grains bond together to form the cake. Subsequently, the piston is completely withdrawn and the cake is ejected.
An example of such a apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,593 to Gevaert. As shown therein, the patentee teaches a mold comprised of a hollow heated dye and a punch which is driven into and out of the mold cavity to exert the pressure on the mold when the cereal is cooked. Other systems are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,667,588 and 4,328,741.
Problems can occur in the operation of such machines. Thus, in order to have a successful operation, it is of importance that the punch or piston mates extremely closely with the walls of the mold in order to maintain the super atmospheric pressure required to cook the rice or cereal. This pressure must be maintained at an elevated temperature. This naturally creates problems since the very close tolerances required must be maintained both when the apparatus is hot and also when the apparatus is cool. A further complicating factor is that the operation of the apparatus can lead to a residue built up from the cereal grain.
As will be readily understood, the commercial operation of these systems has led to certain problems such as the seizing of the pistons while inside the mold or cavity.
In other words, problems have arisen since the apparatus or system must maintain the very close tolerances both when the system is cold--i.e. during the start up and when the system has reached operating temperatures. This problem becomes more severe as the system is in operation and accordingly, it has become known that the systems are constantly under repair.
Naturally, it would also be desirable to form as many of the final cake products as desirable at one time. In other words, if one is able to operate a system having a plurality of hollow dies and punches, the production efficiency is greatly increased. However, to date, the aforementioned problems have tended to discourage the building of such a system since a plurality of dies and punches would only tend to severely aggravate the problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide improvements in the apparati for cooking cereal grains.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device for preparing an expanded cereal which is cooked under pressure and heat.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a multi-cavity mold arrangement for the cooking of food products such as cereal grains.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide for a mold arrangement wherein a piston is reciprocally driven into and out of the mold for a means to allow for expansion within the mold.